Chromatography is one of the most widely used analytical techniques in biotechnology. Currently, separation costs account for well over 40% of the production expenses associated with the manufacture of proteins and other biotechnology products. Key objectives towards managing these costs include reducing the number or complexity of production steps and labor costs.
Particulate supports are the most commonly used materials for chromatographic stationary phases. However, these materials are inefficient for large scale operations which require speed, scale up and ease of clean operation. On the other hand, continuous stationary phases formed of fabric (i.e. a textile structure composed of mechanically interlocked fibers or filaments) provide many advantages compared to discrete spherical or granular packing materials, including: mechanical stability at extremely high eluent linear velocities, wide availability of a range of defined surface chemistries in large quantities, and constant plate height at high linear velocities, thereby making scale-up and operation over a wide range of conditions relatively independent of flow rate. Furthermore, the fabric, when packed tightly in column, retains the advantage of low pressure drops, which is difficult to achieve with particulate forms of the same materials.
Continuous stationary phases have further advantages over loose packing materials, including, very fast flow rates, direct scale-up, and clean columns. These advantages are not currently found in preparative and commercial scale chromatography using particulate cellulosic stationary phases.
In spite of these advantages, columns having continuous phases of fabric are difficult to pack with sufficient density and reproducibility. A need thus exists for devices and methods which provide reproducible, dense packing of a large number of columns at reasonable expense. The present invention addresses this need.